Prosecutors seek media reporting ban on George Pell trial

Cardinal George Pell has been committed to stand trial on multiple historical sexual assault charges.Credit:Jason South

Prosecutors are seeking a complete ban on media reporting of the Cardinal George Pell trial.

Cardinal Pell will be the most senior Catholic leader in the world to face a jury after he was committed to stand trial on multiple historic sexual assault charges a fortnight ago.

But the Victorian Department of Public Prosecutions lodged an application with the Country Court of Victoria on Friday for a supression order over any media coverage of the trial.

If the application is successful, it would mean the trial could not be reporteduntil after the court proceedings are completed.

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It is understood the application is being made on the grounds that Cardinal Pell would not be given a fair trial due to the intense publicity which has surrounded the case to date.

The orders being sought by the DPP include "that publication is prohibited of any report of the whole or any part of these proceedings and any information derived from this proceeding and any court documents associated with this proceeding."

The DPP has also requested that the ban stretch across all states and territories of Australia including "any website or other electronic or broadcast format accessible within Australia."

Magistrate Belinda Wallington committed the 76-year-old on charges against multiple complainants, involving alleged sexual offending at a swimming pool in the 1970s in Ballarat, where the accused man was then working as a priest; and at St Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne in 1990s, when he was the Archbishop of Melbourne.